Ch. 11

Justinian Code

The Uniform code created by a panel of 400 legal experts; it served the Byzantine Empire

for 900 years.

Hagia Sophia

The Church of “Holy Wisdom” built by Justinian in

Constantinople; considered the crowning glory of his reign.

Patriarch

The term for the leading bishop of Eastern

Christianity.

Icons

A religious image used by Eastern Christians to aid in

their devotions.

Slavs

People of the forests north of the Black Sea who were

influenced by Greek Byzantine missionaries and traders.

Alexander Nevsky

The prince and military hero of Novgorod; he advised fellow Russian princes to cooperate

with the Mongols.

Seljuks

A migrating Turkish group that converted to Islam and

captured Baghdad, eventually occupying most of Anatolia.

Malik Shah

The Seljuk sultan who built a great empire and took pride in supporting Persian artists and

architects.

Excommunication

The declaration that casts a person out of the Christian

Church.

Cyrillic

The Slavic alphabet created by saints Cyrillic and Methodius in

the 9th century.

Vladimir

The ruler of Kiev who made his subjects join him in converting

to Byzantine Christianity.

Yaroslav the Wise

He ruled Kiev (1019-1054) forged trading alliances with Western

Europe, and created a legal code.

Ivan III

The Russian prince of Moscow who openly challenged the

Mongols and liberated Russia in a bloodless standoff.

Czar

A Russian ruler or emperor, from the Russian version of the word

“caesar”

Vizier

A prime minister who served the Seljuk sultans.

Omar Khayyam

Author, under the patronage of Malik Shah, of a famous set of

poems called the Rubaiyat.

Hippodrome

A stadium in Constantinople that could hold 60,000 spectators to

watch chariot races and performance acts.

Mese

The “Middle Way” or main street that ran through Constantinople; it was

lined with merchants’ stalls.

Empress Theodora

The most powerful woman in Byzantinehistory, she passed

laws and advised her husband, Justinian.

Khanate of the Golden Horde

The Mongol empire that, after the fall of Kiev, ruled all of southern

Russia for 200 years.